What makes mock meat popular

Easy to prepare

Mock meat is easy to cook and adapts well to all cuisines. “It performs reasonably well in marinades but has to be heavily marinated to mask its natural flavour,” says Shamsul Wahid, head chef, Social. It’s also easy to pair. It goes well with rice as well as bread.

How far from reality?

By recreating meat, if you mean that what you get is exactly the same as the real thing, then the answer is NO, says chef Wahid. “It’s not the same thing. You might be able to get the same texture but the flavour which comes from natural fats present in the meat can’t and has not been recreated,” he says.

Origin story

Tracing the origins of mock or faux meat to south-east Asia, chef Nishant Choubey says that the best variety comes from Malaysia. Chef DayaShankar Sharma says that the vegetarian dietary laws of Buddhism led to development of meat analogues as a replacement of the meatbased dishes, with its origins rooted in Chinese cooking.

It’s a ‘mockathi’ roll!

Chef Nishant Choubey says that product is quite versatile. “Mock meat is best when fried and tossed with sauces. Be it mock-kathi roll to mock biryani or mock Nasi goreng, there are so many dishes one can recreate,” he says.

Quick to cook

Supermarts and online stores have a variety of ready-toeat mock meat products. “Our kebabs and keemas that are high in protein and low in trans fats and cholesterol. You can microwave, bake, pan roast or air fry them. We’ll soon add burger patties and nuggets,” says Gaurav Sharma of Greenest.

Go green

A healthier alternative, it also helps reduce environmental damage caused in the production of animal meat. “People are turning vegan. It’s important to provide an alternative. This will help in the long term to decrease the need for land, water, energy and of course reduce emulsion coming from animal agriculture,” says chef Abhinav Sharma.